A rider is fleeing through a war-torn landscape, seeking to bring a mysterious horseshoe-shaped artifact to her army. On the way there, however, she is ambushed by a horde of orc-like warriors, and cornered against a canyon. She attempts to make the jump, but is struck by a thrown weapon and thrown from the saddle, while both the artifact and her horse fall into the abyss. As the horde closes in on the stranded rider, she desperately calls down to her falling mount as a flash of light covers the screen.
A short while later, the rider's horse awakens in a colorful landscape and, to her considerable panic, realizes she can speak. She is also greatly startled by the presence of a group of talking, singing and highly eccentric centaurs, who insist on making her a part of their friend group and rope her into a couple of musical numbers before Horse manages to escape them and run for the hills, intending to find her way back to her rider.
Horse's quest is stymied by the discovery that the valley she is in is covered by an impassable magical dome, and once she crawls her way back to the centaurs they explain that only their magic can let her pass through the dome. Further, only the legendary centaur shamans can help her get back home, but they see no reason to leave their idyllic lives to lead her there. Horse, however, quickly realizes that for all their insistence to the contrary, the centaurs aren't satisfied with their lives, and are in fact immensely bored. She presses on this lead and convinces them to try to experience more of the world around them and, after an improvised musical number to chinch the argument, the centaurs accompany her to the edge of the valley, take down the barrier, and journey with her along the rainbow-colored road into the forest beyond.
This episode contains examples of:
- Armor-Piercing Question: Horse pulls this on Wammawink in order to convince her and her herd to help her leave Centaurworld. Wammawink has been very insistent about Centaurworld being a magical and amazing place — but, Horse points out, how can she know that for sure if she and her herd never leave their valley?Horse: (In an insinuating tone) You guys just sang a song about this place and how amazing it is.
Wammawink: (defiantly) Oh it is!
Horse: You guys said that the fun never ends here.
Wammawink: Oh, it's non-stop fun.
Horse: But how can you mean that when you guys just stay in the same place every day? - Animesque:
- The world Horse and Rider come from is in this style, in contrast to the more cartoony style of Centaurworld. Rider's design in particular wouldn't look out of place in The Legend of Korra or Voltron: Legendary Defender.
- At one point, Wammawink suddenly gains an anime-like face as a gag.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: While trying to convince Wammawink's herd to help her, Horse asks them if they want to see the world, feel the wind in their manes, and feel the crunch of their enemies' skulls under their hooves.
- Decoy Protagonist: The episode opens with a vague narration with camera angles that imply Rider is the one speaking. Then she begins to sing, and her voice is very different from the one in the narration, minutes before Horse arrives in Centaurworld and it's revealed she was the one narrating.
- Domed Hometown: The Valley where Wammawink and her herd lives is covered by a dome that prevents entry or exit to those without magic.
- Doomed Hometown: The first scene has Rider and Horse come across the burning ruins of their village.
- Downer Beginning: The first minute alone is Horse's monologue about the war and how it has ravaged hers and Rider's world. And for good measure, Rider and Horse meant to bring the artifact back to their village for a contingency plan, only to find the flaming ruins of the village.
- Establishing Series Moment: The entire first half of the episode, from Rider and Horse facing the Minotaurs in a Dark Fantasy, war-torn Humanworld, to Horse suddenly finding herself in a bright and colorful (and more cartoonish) Centaurworld surrounded by a cast of loud, ambiguously insane centaurs who break out into song at the drop of a hat should basically tell you everything you need to know about the show.
- Failure Montage: One occurs when Horse tries (and repeatedly fails) to get through the magical dome over the valley.
- Fastball Special: Horse and Rider use a variation where Horse bucks forwards, propelling Rider at a group of minotaurs.
- Foreshadowing: When Rider stops to pant after cutting the rope bridge, her voice is noticeably deeper than the narrator's. This is the first hint that the narration is being actually done by Horse.
- Reactive Continuous Scream: When Horse meets Durpleton, her reaction is to scream in panic. Durpleton screams back, which makes Horse scream more, and it keeps on going from there.Durpleton: ...Hello.
Horse: AAAAAAH!
Durpleton: AAAAAAH!
Horse: AAAAAAH!
Durpleton: AAAAAAH!
Horse: What is happening?!
Durpleton: I... don't... know! - Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: After being introduced to the centaurs' propensity for musical numbers, Horse tries to use one herself to convince them to help her get out of the valley. Since she has no experience singing, her first attempt is horribly off-tune. Zulius suggests that she might want to warm up a little before launching into song.
- Survival Mantra: Upon waking up in Centaurworld, a disorientated Horse comforts herself with "You're okay, you're all right", borrowing the words from Rider's lullaby.
- Toilet Humor: One of the centaur-shaped houses in the valley Horse ends up in upon arriving in Centaurworld has a door where its anus would be. Horse is naturally a little freaked out by the "butt door".
- Trapped in Another World: The episode sees Horse become stranded in Centaurworld and separated from her rider and home, and she sets off to find a way to get back.
- Uplifted Animal: Upon arrival in Centaurworld, Horse is shocked to find that she's both capable of human speech and literate enough to know about letters and spelling. She can also gesture with much greater dexterity, being able to not only point with her hoof with an abnormal range, but also lift both her front hooves to gesture while standing upright without falling over.
